Super Elastic Wire Conductor

Wire conductors can be withdrawn up to 14 times the length of the original has been developed by scientists from the University of Texas at Dallas, USA. They said this discovery could be applied on a flexible electronic devices, artificial muscles, as well as other devices such as sensors of high-strain deformation. Ray Baughman and his team made the super-elastic, wire conductor with Carbon Nano Tube sheet membungkuskan (CNT) oriented in the direction of the fiber to fiber-core rubber made from styrene-copolymer (ethylene-butylene)-styrene (SEBS) drawn. This fiber is very elastic and can be pulled up to 1320% of its original length.

Electrical resistance is increased only by 5% when the wire is pulled more than 10 times the maximum length. However, by including the nanotube and another layer of rubber in it, this team could change the fiber be ' fiber ' capacitor resistance increased by 860% when pulled, this phenomenon can be exploited for strain sensor materials. Instead, the team was also able to make artificial muscle fibers can be used for pumping liquids in medical device or rotate the mirrors in the optical circuits.

Previous research on the super elastic wire conductors none is capable of stretching more than five times the initial length without changing the resistance. The wearing of CNT that stemmed from the Aerogel sheets CNT multiwall with high orientation is the key to their success. By pulling the rubber core up to 1400% the length of the original and then wrap it with a layer of CNT around the core, the research team was able to create the internal structure is hierarchical. They can also apply the rubber sheath around the basic structure either with or without stretching to provide three basic structures that can be fine-tuned based on the number of layers of the CNT.

When the pull is stopped, a layer of CNT memegas axially, causing the structure as in the rubber belts. By using a rubber core and the thickness of the CNT, allowing the team to change the initial barriers and other properties of the wire.

The researchers showed that by inserting coils of wire on straight they can create a circular wire that can be stretched more than 30 times the length of the scratch resistance without changes meaning. This technology allows it to be used on robotic arm or order out in extreme conditions, or interconnection for electronic circuits which are extremely elastic and as space applications

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"Our future plans is to make our artificial muscle stronger, by reducing the diameter of the fiber core and add several layers of rubber sheath CNT, which are respectively separated by a thin dielectric layer of rubber" said Baughman.

"Nanomaterial elastic has a lot of interest lately", firmly Yong Zhu from North Carolina State University. The journal is led by UT Dallas reporting structure of the report: that is very interesting-the key of their elastic conductor wire-. That allows for other applications utilized in nanomaterial.